
Author 



Title 



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1«— 47372-2 OPO 



Genealogy of Jefferson Davis 



ADDRESS 

Delivered October 9, 1908, Before Lee Camp, No. i, 

Confederate Veterans, Richmond, Va. 



BY 

William H. Whitsitt 

Professor of James Thomas Jr., School of Philosophy, 

Richmond College 



1908 



■ T)--:> \4 



Gift 

Author 
(PeracM) 

12 N '08 



Genealogy of Jefferson Davis 



Nee Stygia cohihebor unda 

Hor. Odes 2, 20, 8. 



Ererert Wftddey Co. 

Bookbinders and Printer* 

Biobmond, Ya. 



Genealogy of Jefferson Davis 

<Y|' AM sincerely grateful to the gentlemen of Lee Camp and in 
jjj, particular to Comrade Freeman, who made the motion, for 
the invitation extended to me to deliver an address upon 
some Confederate subject. It was suggested by Comrade Free- 
man, that I should present a tribute to the Confederate Army of 
the West, and speak a kind word for the soldiers of that service. 
I hold my comrades of the Western Army in the highest esteem 
and affection. They were brave and honorable soldiers, but I am 
not able to do justice to their memory. I held no high position 
among them, and I did not understand a great deal concerning 
the military operations that went forward before my eyes. I 
have learned more about these operations by reading over the 
dispatches in the so-called "Rebellion Records," than I was 
able to find out when I was on the spot, and watched the progress 
of them. Moreover I have never made any special study of 
military science, and I feel convinced that it would be out of 
my power to speak of the soldiers of the Western service in a 
manner that would be equal to the present occasion, or worthy 
of their skill and courage. 

After some reflection I have concluded to address you on the 
Genealogy of President Jefferson Davis, which appears to be a 



worthy Confederate subject, about which very httle has been 
said hitherto. The materials are as yet incomplete, and I shall 
be compelled in several places to indulge in hypothesis ; but the 
working hypothesis is an indispensable resource. I have de- 
cided to make a beginning, in the hope that other investigators 
will find additional material, and clear up the points that may 
remain imperfect in my treatment of the subject. 

The most important material consists of certain notices which 
Mr. Davis himself dictated a short while before his death. These 
were included by Mrs. Davis in the opening chapter of her 
Memoir of his life. The brief statements which are there set 
down supply an indispensable clew. It was known that the 
Davis family were of the Baptist persuasion, but when and where 
they had become Baptists was something unknown until Mr. 
Davis himself gave the requisite hint. We must thank him for 
showing us the way. It would have been impossible to turn 
a wheel without his assistance and direction. 

The records of the Baptist Church to which his ancestors seem 
to have belonged, stand next in importance to the testimony 
of Mr. Davis. These were published in the year 1904, in two 
parts by the Historical Society of Delaware, who have thereby 
rendered a memorable service indeed. We owe much honor and 
many thanks to the Historical Society of Delaware. Following 
is the title of Paper Number XLII., issued by that learned cor- 
poration : 

Records of the Welsh Tract Baptist Meeting, Pencader Hun- 
dred, New Castle County, Delaware, 1701 to 1828. In two parts. 
Copied from the Original Records in the Possession of the Meeting 
Officials. The Historical Society of Delaware, Wilmington, 1904. 

In quoting from this record it will be necessary to bring forv^^ard 
certain controversies that were raised among the brethren, but 
these will be employed merely as items of history. I shall 
endeavor strictly to observe the proprieties of the occasion and 



the requirements of the historic method. If I should fail to 
reach the ideal in these particulars, the failure will be due to 
defect of skill, and in no sense to defect of purpose and principle. 
I appeal to your generosity, and request a favorable construction . 

It affords me much satisfaction to commend the example of the 
Historical Society of Delaware. The genealogical notices given 
by Mr. Davis were entirely useless to me until I was enabled to 
obtain a sight of the Welsh Tract Records. By comparing the 
one with the other many secrets were revealed, and many diffi- 
culties were removed. I trust that other learned bodies among 
us will be encouraged to render assistance to historical students 
in that fashion. I rejoice that just now the Confederate Museum 
is issuing Douglas Freeman's Calendar of the Confederate Papers 
in its possession. This is a work of high importance, and the 
preparation and publication of it is a proof of the enlightened 
policy of that great corporation. 

Jefferson Davis says, "Three brothers came to America from 
Wales in the early part of the eighteenth century. They settled 
at Philadelphia." (Memoir by his Wife, Vol. i, p. 3). This is a 
pregnant sentence indeed. This led to comparisons and afforded 
a clew that supplied access to the subject. Taken in connection 
with these words, the Welsh Tract Meeting and the Welsh Tract 
Records must acquire very high significance, and they will 
commend themselves in future to multitudes of people. 

The opening sentences of these records describe the beginning 
of the church in the following words: "In the year 1701 some of 
us who were members of the churches of Jesus Christ in the 
county s of Pembroke and Caermarthen, South Wales in Great 
Britain, (professing believers baptisni, laying-on-of -hands, election 
and final perseverance in grace) ■\^re moved and encouraged 
in our own minds to come to these parts, viz. : Pennsylvania ; 
and after obtaining leave of the churches it seemed good to the 
Lord and to us, that we should be firmed into church order, as 



we were a sufficient number: and as one of us was a minister: 
that was accomplished and withal letters commendatory were 
given us, that if we should meet with any congregations of 
christian people who held the same faith with us, we might be 
received by them as brethren in Christ. 

"Our number was sixteen: and after bidding farewell to our 
brethren in Wales, we sailed from Milford Haven in the month 
of June the year above mentioned, in a ship named James and 
Mary; and landed in Philadelphia the eighth of September 
following : 
X "After landing we were received in a loving manner (on account 
of the gospel) by the congregation meeting in Philadelphia and 
Pennepek, who held to the same faith with us (excepting the ordi- 
nance of Laying-on-of -hands on every particular member) with 
whom we wished much to hold communion at the Lords-table; 
but we could not be in fellowship with them in the Lords-supper ; 
because they bore not testimony for God touching the foremen- 
tioned ordinance. (Records, Pt. L, pp. 7, 8.) 

"After our arrival we lived much scattered for about a year and 
a half, yet kept up our weekly and monthly meetings among 
ourselves : during which time it pleased God to add to our number 
about twenty members, in which time we, and many other 
Welsh people purchased a tract of land in New Castle County, on 
Delaware, which was called Welsh Tract: in the year 1703 we 
began to get our living out of it, and to set our meetings in order 
and build a place of worship which was commonly known by the 
name of. The Baptist meeting-house by the Iron-hill." (Records, 
Pt. L, p. 8.). 



' 'The names of the members who first came over were : 

Thomas Griffith "minister" 
Year Griffith Nicolas 
1 70 1. Evan Edmond 

John Edward 

Elizeus (Ehsha) Thomas 

Enoch Morgan 

Righart (Richard) David 

Elizabeth Griffith 

Lewis Edmond 

Mary John 

Mary Thomas 

Elizabeth Griffith 

Shonnet (Jennet) David 

Margaret Matheas 

Shonnet (Jennet) Morris 

James David" (Records Pt. I., pp. n, 12.) 
The Davids mentioned in the above list seem to be the ances- 
tors of President Davis. They fulfill all the conditions of the 
case. They were of the Baptist faith. They emigrated from 
Wales and settled near Philadelphia in the early part of the 
eighteenth century. They retained their Philadelphia home for 
eighteen months and then removed to New Castle County, Dela- 
ware. So far as history informs us, there was no other Baptist 
family of the name of Davis, that came from Wales in the early 
part of the eighteenth century, and settled at Philadelphia. 

President Davis speaks of three brothers, the youngest of whom 
named Evan was his grandfather. Richard and James David 
(Records, pp. 11, 12) were charter members of the church and they 
ma}^ have been brothers, but there is no account of Evan Davis. 
Shion Dafydd subscribed the Philadelphia Confession in Feb- 
ruary 1 7 16 (Records, p. 21), and my edition of Webster's Diction- 
ary affirms that Evan is "the same as John," but Charlotte M. 

7 



Yonge in her History of Christian Names, p. 273, expresses herself 
with less confidence, and is only willing to say that "Evan may 
be intended for John." If Evan was intended for John, then the 
Welsh Tract Records may supply the names of the three brothers. 
But I am inclined to doubt somewhat concerning the three 
brothers. Richard David seems to have been the head of the 
family. 

Samuel Davis, the President's father was bom in the year 1756, 
and was an only son. Evan the grandfather may have married 
his wife, the Widow Williams, about the year 1755, and he is sup- 
posed to have been at least sixty years of age at that time. That 
is a possible construction, but it would seem more likely that 
Evan was bom in America rather than in Wales. It is not 
uncommon for people to omit a generation or two, who undertake 
to trace their genealogy without the assistance of contemporary 
records. 

In the year 17 11 Martha Thomas was added to the Welsh 
Tract Church by baptism; apparently a daughter of Elisha 
Thomas, who later was selected as the second pastor. She was 
the first and only person with the Christian name of Martha that 
is found in the early lists of membership. In February, 17 16, 
Martha Thomas disappears and the name of Martha Dafis occurs 
for the first time. My hypothesis is that she had married, 
meanwhile, one of the Davis young men. In the year 1732 the 
case of Martha Dafis was brought before the Church, and the 
records give the following account of it : 

"The rebellion of Martha David against the Church appeared, 

(i) In opposing the truth which she once professed to the 
church according to the commandment of Christ and the practice 
of the Apostles under the ministry of the New testament. 

(2) In refusing instruction, and despising advice tho' offered 
many a time by the brethren in particular, and by the church in 
general. 

8 



(3) In breaking covenant with the church by carrying uncon- 
^ nected pieces of what was talked in the church to the Presbyte- 

r ns to have their opinion of them, tho' the church charged her 
' jcforehand not to do so. 

(4) In being so false and unfaithful in carrying her tales so 
that she has curtailed the truth and increased her falsehoods ; and 
thereby hath wronged the church by her change of opinion, and 
putting a false gloss upon what was said to her — and putting it 
in the power of enemies to blaspheme — also to renew the variance 
between us and the Presbyterians, for which causes she was put 
out of the church Mar. 4, 1732. 

N. B. She was President Davis's mother." (Records, p. 26.) 
I have striven in vain to discover the Christian name of the 
father of President Samuel Davies of Princeton College. James 
David, whose name appears last on the list of Charter members, 
may have been his father, but of that point we cannot be certified. 
According to Dr. Foote (Sketches, p. 158), the father of Samuel 
Davies was bom in the year 1680, he died on the nth of August, 
1759, apparently in Hanover County, Virginia; but the records 
of that county, were destroyed at the close of the Confederate 
War, and it will hardly be possible to obtain any further infor- 
mation concerning him. Richard David died on the i6th of 
February, 1719 (Records, pt. i, p. 24). His wife, Shonnet (other- 
wise written Janneth) was the first member of the church to pass 
away (Records, p. 23). She died on the loth of June, 1701, and 
may have been buried at sea. 

Much freedom was employed in spelling the name. The 
clerk of the church wrote it usually, but not invariably, David. 
On the 4th of Feb., 17 16, many of the members subscribed the 
Philadelphia Confession of Faith, and here the spelling was 
both variant and archaic. It appears that every person wrote 
his own name with his own hand, and took liberty to spell it 
in his own way. In that place the name Richard Davis is 

9 



spelled Rhichart Dafydd. Martha Davies, the mother of Presi- 
dent Davies of Princeton, spells her name Martha Dafis (Re- 
cords, p. 20). David Davis spelled it Davis (Records, p. 21), 
as did also Janott Davis, who subscribed in the year 1724 (Rec- 
ords, p. 22). President Davies appears from these Records to 
have been the first person of the family connection to put an 
"e" into the body of the name, and spell it Davies. 

It was considered disorderly in the early period for young 
people to marry without advising with the church. (Records, 
p. 77.) While they were still in Philadelphia, and before the 
removal to Welsh Tract, one of the young fellows of the Thomas 
family, appears to have violated that rule. His wife, however, 
seems to have healed all the trouble, by uniting with the church. 
In the year 1702 her name appears as East her Thomas (Records, 
p. 12), and in the year 17 16 she subscribed the Confession of 
Faith as Estor Thomas. (Records, p. 20.) But apparently 
she was not content with her lot, and in the year 1733 the 
following entry occurs : 

"At our quarterly meeting, Jun 9, 1733 Then was Esther 
Thomas excluded. 

"She was under a kind of suspension for some considerable 
time before ; for her lukewarmness, and negligence and for blam- 
ing the doctrine and for carrying her grand daughters to the 
presbyterians to be sprinkled contrary unto the will of their 
father and mother while alive, which then were dead. She also 
left the church and joyned with ye presbyterians — And was 
therefore excluded." (Records, p. 75.) Though her exclusion 
followed that of Martha Davies by fifteen months, her influence 
appears to have been paramount in the action of her sister-in- 
law. They both showed commendable filial piety in avoiding 
every issue until after the death of their father, Elisha Thomas, 
the second pastor, who passed away on the first of September, 
1730 (Records, p. 25). 



10 



In the Journal of the Rev. Samuel Davies the following entry- 
occurs under date of Monday, November 12, [1753]: 

"Went to see my relations in the tract; and when I passed 
by the places where I formerly lived or walked, it gave a solemn 
turn to my mind" (Foote, Sketches, p. 237). One may wonder 
whether he encountered Evan Davis on this visit to his relations 
in the Tract. Three years later there was born to Evan his only 
son and heir. The Christian name of Samuel had been appar- 
ently unknown in this particular family, until it was introduced 
by Martha Davies. President Samuel Davies says: 

"I cannot but mention to my friend an anecdote known to 
but few; that is that I am a son of prayer, like my namesake 
Samuel, the prophet; and my mother called me Samuel, be- 
cause, she said, I have asked him of the Lord. " (Foote, Sketches, 
p. 158). Evidently it was an unaccustomed name, but Evan 
Davies may have been so charmed by the presence of the great 
preacher, and by the luster of his name in Europe and America, 
that he elected to call his own child Samuel in honor of him. 
That appears at least a rational explanation of the Christian 
name of the father of Jefferson Davis. 

The notices given by Jefferson Davis are brief, and not alwa3^s 
distinct. He says: "The youngest of the brothers, Evan Davis, 
removed to Georgia, then a colony of Great Britain. He was 
the grandfather of Jefferson Davis. He married a widow whose 
family name was Emory. By her he had one son, Samuel Davis, 
the father of Jefferson Davis. " (Memoir by his Wife, Vol. i , p. 3.) 

When did Evan Davis remove to the Colony of Georgia ? If his 
son Samuel Davis was bom in the year 1756, the union with 
the Widow Williams must have taken place before that time. 
But Georgia was an unlikely place for Evan Davis to obtain any 
but an Indian wife prior to the year 1756. Moreover the lan- 
guage of Mr. Davis does not appear to certify that Evan Davis 



married Mrs. Williams in Georgia. He may have removed to 
Georgia some time after his marriage to her. 

It seems possible, in fact, that Evan Davis, may have obtained 
his wife from the communicants of Welsh Tract Church in Penn- 
sylvania. A family of the name of William, which later came 
to be written Williams, was established in the Welsh Tract com- 
munity as early as the year 1710, at which time Mary William 
from Kilcam in Wales was received as a member of the church 
(Records, p. 14). Shion William appears to have been the head 
of the family. He signed the Philadelphia Confession of Faith 
in 17 16 (Records, p. 20), and was buried under the name of John 
William on the 30th of September, 17 18. Margaret William was 
also a signer of the Confession (Records, p. 20). 

During the years 1735, 1737 and 1738, quite a number of peo- 
ple were sent forth from Welsh Tract church in Delaware to build 
another church on Pedee River in South Carolina. Their names 
are all carefully preserved in the records (Records, Pt. i, pp. 83- 
85). The new church that was established in Carolina was 
styled Welsh Neck, in memory of the mother church from which 
it had sprung. It is still an influential community, and Welsh 
Neck Association has grown up about it, an organization of 
more than twenty churches, that is highly respected in all sec- 
tions of the Southern country. 

It seems natural to conclude that Evan Davis in traveling 
Southward should have called at Welsh Neck, where many peo- 
ple resided with whom he had been on familiar terms. Margaret 
William of Welsh Tract had become a member of Welsh Neck 
(Records, p. 84), and it does not appear a violent hypothesis 
that one of her sons may have married a Miss Emory of South 
Carolina, and that she in the charm of her widowhood may have 
won the heart and hand of Evan Davis. Upon reflection it 
it appears more likely that the Emory family in question may 
have belonged to South Carolina, than to Georgia or Pennsylvania. 



Assuming that Evan Davis tarried for a season in South Car- 
oHna, it is pertinent to inquire after the special attraction that 
could have induced him to remove to Georgia. The religious 
sentiments of Welshmen are apt to be very profound and con- 
trolling. The Davis family seem to have been no exception to 
this rule. In the year 1755, when the Scotch-Irish migration 
was moving Southward, Shubael Stearnes and Daniel Marshall, 
a couple of Baptist ministers, joined the procession at Winchester, 
Va. Stearnes halted in North Carolina, but Marshall followed 
the procession all the way to Georgia, and when their work had 
been completed there were many Scotch-Irish Baptists in Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. 

Marshall had advanced as far as Edgefield District, South 
Carolina, in 1767, where he founded Horse Creek Church, about 
fifteen miles north of Augusta. In the year 1771 he transferred 
his residence across the Savannah, about twenty miles north of 
Augusta, where he established Kioka church,^ whose members 
resided both in Georgia and South Carolina. The fame of Kioka 
went abroad into every quarter of the country; it became a 
great center of influence. The religious magnet probably drew 
Evan Davis more strongly than any other. He seems to have 
been pleased with the temperature of the Scotch-Irish religion, 
and to have removed his home and membership from Welsh 
Neck to the church at Kioka. It is not likely that he settled 
in Georgia before the year 1771. Samuel Davis was fifteen 
years old at this time, and it may be that he, too, had become a 
communicant of Kioka church before the outbreak of the Revo- 
lution. 

Samuel Davis was nineteen years of age at the opening of hos- 
tilities. Mr. Davis reports that the young man entered the military 
ser\'ice, and in the course of time raised a company of infantry, 
which he commanded until peace was declared. It was during 
his connection with the Army, according to President Davis, that 

13 



he met Miss Jane Cook, the Scotch-Irish lassie who became his 
wife and the mother of his children. This may be a correct 
statement, but it appears more likely that Samuel Davis, always 
a strict attendant upon Baptist meetings, should have met her 
at some session of the Georgia Baptist Association, a very large 
and powerful body composed of churches situated on both sides 
of the Savannah River. She may have been a member of one 
of the Baptist churches in Edgefield or Abbeville District, South 
Carolina, whose hospitality the Georgia Association had been 
thankful to accept. The Rev. Mark Cook was a valued minister 
of the Georgia Association, and though he resided on the Geor- 
gia side of the Savannah, it is possible that he had come 
from South Carolina, and that Miss Jane Cook may have been 
a near relative. The union of two such splendid races as the 
Welsh and the Scotch-Irish was auspicious in many ways. It 
produced a man of remarkable spirit and capacity, who became 
one of the foremost figures in American history. 

If anybody is willing to assist in promoting this investigation, 
he might render excellent service by examining the records of 
New Castle County, Delaware, for additional traces of the Davis 
family from 1703 to 1775. Possibly the records of Welsh Neck 
Church, or of Darlington County, S. C, might produce some no- 
tices of the life of Evan Davis in the period before his removal 
to Georgia. President Davis affirms that his father, Samuel 
Davis, was elected clerk of the county court where he resided in 
Georgia. If search was made, in Richmond or Columbia Coun- 
ty, for the books that were written during his term of office, it 
would be appreciated. 

Welsh Tract and Welsh Neck were both important fanes of 
Baptist religion, but Kioka appears to have transcended them 
in power and influence. From Kioka the Baptist religion was 
extended all over Georgia, and likewise into portions of Middle 
Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. Samuel Davis went to South- 

14 



em Kentucky and settled in Christian Coimty, where his eminent 
son was bom on the 3d of June, 1 808. Here he was connected with 
Bethel church, a prosperous community. In later years Bethel 
Association was formed around it, which became distinguished 
in the annals of Kentucky Baptists. It established Bethel Col- 
lege at Russellville, and Bethel Female College at Hopkinsville , 
both of which have been respectable for learning and usefulness. 

Shortly before the opening of the war of 181 2, Samuel Davis 
sought another home, and settled in Wilkinson county, Missis- 
sippi. Here also he seems to have been an active religious leader. 
He was probably a member of another Bethel church situated 
near Woodville, the county seat of Wilkinson. This church 
belonged to Mississippi Association, from which the Baptist re- 
ligion was spread abroad in the States of Mississippi and Louisi- 
ana. He died on the 4th of July, 1824, at the age of sixty-eight 
years. 

During the progress of this investigation I have advanced 
several hypotheses, and it is likely that some of them may be 
set aside through additional research. The main conclusion that 
I have reached, however, namely, that the Davis family were 
remarkable for religious energy and efficiency, will be likely to 
endure. Samuel Davies of Princeton was the incomparable 
ornament of their colonial period, and his namesake, Samuel 
Davis (provided my hypothesis will hold) , was an effective re- 
ligious figure of the middle period, who won a good degree in the 
States of Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi. He was always 
found upon the high places of the field; always at centers of 
large and profitable procedure. 

In an address that he made at the dedication of the Baptist 
church in Kentucky, that had been erected upon the spot where 
his father's house once stood, Jefferson Davis is reported to have 
affirmed that his father was a better man than himself. Possi- 
bly he was referring to the punctual exercise of the cares and 

IS 



offices of religious life. His father may have excelled him in 
that particular, because his father lived in a different age, and 
was more secluded from the business and conflicts of life. But 
Jefferson Davis possessed high religious energy and devoutness. 
There were pranks at school and college, but he was a sturdy and 
studious lad. In his public life there were many seductions and 
temptations, but he kept a stainless escutcheon. He failed in 
the greatest conflict of his life, but perhaps no other leader in 
the Confederacy could have come as near to success. And after 
defeat had claimed him for her own, he endured for many years 
a great burden of reproach and sorrow, with manly dignity and 
courage. There was displayed the excellent religion of his 
fathers ; finer, perhaps, than any that you and I possess. 

"His life was gentle; and the elements 

So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up, 

And say to all the world 'This was a man.' " 




i6 



